Minister confirms 125 vacancies at Central Bank

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe has confirmed there are 125 vacant positions of a total of 1,735 posts at the Central Bank.

In a written Dáil reply to Fianna Fáil finance spokesman Michael McGrath, Mr Donohoe said the largest number of open positions, at 47 vacancies, was in its “financial conduct” unit.

Those posts include 10 vacant positions at the consumer protection unit and 19 open positions at markets supervision.

At 31 vacancies, the second-highest number of vacant posts at the institution is in “central banking”.

According to Mr Donohoe, the Central Bank has 29 vacancies in its prudential regulation unit, while there are 18 vacancies in operations.

The vacancies at the Central Bank coincide with the bank expanding its workforce.

At the end of last December, the bank employed 1,599 staff, an increase of around 235 people in almost a year.

Mr McGrath said: “The number of vacancies, and indeed the nature of the positions vacant, at the Central Bank is a source of concern as it must be having at least some negative impact on the level of performance.

“Forty-seven vacancies in the financial conduct area is worrying given the critical work carried out in that area of the bank. Steps have to be taken to reduce the vacancy rate across the Central Bank, but particularly in the most critical areas.”

Separate figures provided by Mr Donohoe show the number of vacant positions in other agencies operating under the Department of Finance is much smaller.

The figures for the National Treasury Management Agency show there are only 14 vacant positions from a workforce of 790.

Exports of goods across the Irish Sea have increased again despite the dampening effects of the slump in sterling since the Brexit vote which ought to have weighed on sales into the UK for firms based in the Republic.